On Saturday it was Ferrari’s Felipe Massa who was all smiles after winning the pole on the Monte Carlo street circuit which–as he is the first to admit–he doesn’t like very much. Today Lewis Hamilton had the last laugh after he won the Monaco Grand Prix in what he said was one of the greatest moments of his life.
The race didn’t start out too well for McLaren as the Ferraris had the front row to themselves and Heikki Kovalainen had clutch trouble on the grid as the the rest of the field started their warm up lap which meant that he had to start from pit lane. As had been forecast it was also raining and some parts of the circuit were very wet.
To make matters even worse Hamilton slapped the barrier on the sixth lap and had to pit for fresh tyres as his right rear was flat. At this point his team changed their strategy and topped him off with fuel so that he could stay out longer than his competitors before his second stop. This turned out to be the winning move as he set a fast pace and built up enough of a gap that he retained the lead after his next stop.
As is normal at Monaco, especially when it is wet, passing was difficult unless someone made a mistake and there were plenty of those on the slick pavement. A few crashes and a couple of safety car periods later there were some unexpected names in the top 10 and several of the favourites were running behind them.
Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) scored his first points of the season as did Rubens Barrichello (Honda). Adrian Sutil (Force India) looked likely to finish fourth and score the first points for both himself and his team but his season-long run of bad luck continued when Kimi Raikkonen hit a wet patch on the drying track, lost control and careered into the back of him. Raikkonen was able to continue after a stop for a new nose and front wing but it was game over for Sutil.
Round 6: May 25, 2008 – Monte Carlo, Monaco
| Position |
Driver |
Team |
Points |
| 1 |
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) |
McLaren |
10 |
| 2 |
Robert Kubica (POL) |
BMW Sauber |
8 |
| 3 |
Felipe Massa (BRA) |
Ferrari |
6 |
| 4 |
Mark Webber (AUS) |
Red Bull |
5 |
| 5 |
Sebastian Vettel (GER) |
Toro Rosso |
4 |
| 6 |
Rubens Barrichello (BRA) |
Honda |
3 |
| 7 |
Kazuki Nakajima (JPN) |
Williams |
2 |
| 8 |
Heikki Kovalainen (FIN) |
McLaren |
1 |
| Fastest Qualifier: Felipe Massa (BRA) |
Complete GP of Monaco results.
Posted: Sunday, May 25th, 2008
For the third year in a row Felipe Massa won the Turkish Grand Prix from the pole this afternoon. Although Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren was in his mirrors for much of the race Massa’s victory was never seriously in doubt. Hopefully this win, his second along with a second-place in the last three races, will silence the persistent rumours that his future at Ferrari may be in doubt.
Apart from a brief period behind the safety car after Giancarlo Fisichella tried to drive over Kazuki Nakajima’s Williams on the first lap the race was fairly processional and attrition was light with only Sebastien Bourdais joining these two in the DNF category. Probably just as well as the starting grid was already depleted by the mid-week announcement that Super Aguri was folding its tent.
Depending on who you listen to, Rubens Barrichello may have set a new record today by competing in his 257th Grand Prix. Others are saying that he hasn’t “competed” in quite that many yet as he didn’t actually start a couple of the races that he was entered in during his long career. Either way, if he hasn’t already, he should break the record long before the end of this season and he’s already talking about extending his run to 300.
Round 5: May 11, 2008 – Istanbul, Turkey
| Position |
Driver |
Team |
Points |
| 1 |
Felipe Massa (BRA) |
Ferrari |
10 |
| 2 |
Lewis Hamilton (GBR) |
McLaren |
8 |
| 3 |
Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) |
Ferrari |
6 |
| 4 |
Robert Kubica (POL) |
BMW Sauber |
5 |
| 5 |
Nick Heidfeld (GER) |
BMW Sauber |
4 |
| 6 |
Fernando Alonso (ESP) |
Renault |
3 |
| 7 |
Mark Webber (AUS) |
Red Bull |
2 |
| 8 |
Nico Rosberg (GER) |
Williams |
1 |
| Fastest Qualifier: Felipe Massa (BRA) |
Complete GP of Turkey results.
Posted: Sunday, May 11th, 2008
Since the demise of Super Aguri there will only be 20 cars on the grid for the rest of the season and so the first two knockout sessions will eliminate five instead of six cars in order to leave 10 cars in the final qualifying session.
Posted: Thursday, May 8th, 2008
To the surprise of… absolutely nobody, Super Aguri has withdrawn from the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship and ceased operations after failing to find a buyer / backer with deep enough pockets to keep it going and pay off its debts.
The writing has been on the wall for a while and the proposed change in rules to forbid “customer cars” in 2010 probably meant that it wasn’t worth Honda’s while to bail them out just to have to drop them again after next year.
Posted: Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
